Who’s going skiing and where 2019
Discussion
CAPP0 said:
Any got a view on which are the optimal North American resorts if you've only got a week?
I can speak for the Canadian resorts. Mont Tremblant is cold but pretty. 7 hours flight to Montreal and ~2 hours transfer. Banff (which is a central town to access the Lake Louise/Sunshine/Mount Norquay ski areas) is 9 hours flight to Calgary and ~2 hours transfer. It's in the Rockies so you have some of the best views in the world.
Whistler is 9.5 hours flight to Vancouver and (you guessed it) ~2 hours transfer.
One thing to bear in mind is the jet lag. Mont Tremblant is -5 hours to the UK, Banff -7 hours, Whistler -8 hours. For only a week in resort, you won't want to convert to local time. So staying east will be friendlier, and not leave you wide awake at 3am starving hungry with nothing open, or falling over with sleepiness at peak apres ski time. I've done a week to Whistler before, and it's doable but does mean a lot of waiting around from 3/4 am until the lifts open.
The West Coast of US/Canada is just too far for only 7 days.
Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
lemmingjames said:
For those that home wax your skis; how do you get the 'factory'/workshop machine finished look or do you need a machine?
Yes ive got the hard/soft brushes and various grades of 'scotchbrite' clothes but they never seem to come out like shop done not matter how i prep or finish them.
In short it's:Yes ive got the hard/soft brushes and various grades of 'scotchbrite' clothes but they never seem to come out like shop done not matter how i prep or finish them.
- Brass brush - to clear out crap
- Wax - initially drop on a small amount, then go over with iron to melt and spread wax over base, then another 2 top-to-tail melt runs.
- Scrape
- Brass brush
- Horse hair brush
- Nylon brush
I can recommend a half day spent at the Piste Office for Jon's training course.
//j17 said:
In short it's:
I can recommend a half day spent at the Piste Office for Jon's training course.
I already follow something similar except for no.1 i use the base cleaner fluid- Brass brush - to clear out crap
- Wax - initially drop on a small amount, then go over with iron to melt and spread wax over base, then another 2 top-to-tail melt runs.
- Scrape
- Brass brush
- Horse hair brush
- Nylon brush
I can recommend a half day spent at the Piste Office for Jon's training course.
After scrape, i use a hard nylon brush
horse hair brush
then if its the final wax, the finishing pads (scothbrite type pads) to finish off
yet i can never get them looking like factory. But the performance doesnt suffer either.
Might get the DPS Phantom coating put on them but theres only one place in the UK that does it
But probably is worth me undertaking a course though, thanks for the link
Leithen said:
The West Coast of US/Canada is just too far for only 7 days.
Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
Ski'd Fernie and Kimberley in BC a couple of times, flight was gruelling but managed to get six days and didn't really suffer too much from travelling. The following week in the UK though hit really hard, combination of jet lag, post-snow blues and general leg DOMS. Agree that a week really isn't long enough though for such a crap journey, but it is possible.Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
j_4m said:
Leithen said:
The West Coast of US/Canada is just too far for only 7 days.
Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
Ski'd Fernie and Kimberley in BC a couple of times, flight was gruelling but managed to get six days and didn't really suffer too much from travelling. The following week in the UK though hit really hard, combination of jet lag, post-snow blues and general leg DOMS. Agree that a week really isn't long enough though for such a crap journey, but it is possible.Even with favourable flights you are still only looking at 5 days skiing. And then the jet lag is going to kill you.
We go to the Okanagan in British Columbia over Xmas/New Year, always for a minimum of 2 weeks. Living is Scotland, we are three flights, four airports in, with on average 20+ hours travelling door to door. It's fantastic when you get there, but it is a trek.
But the jet lag is the killer. You are leaving to come home just as your body has adjusted to West Coast time. It's understandable that it then doesn't have a clue what's going on when you return. 2 weeks just makes so much more sense - 13 days skiing.....
Leithen said:
You are right - thinking about it, if you've got 9 Days (Saturday to Sunday next week) then you'll arrive on Saturday, Ski Sunday through to Friday, then fly back on Saturday, arriving Sunday. If you are really keen, a late Saturday flight might allow a morning on the slopes too.
But the jet lag is the killer. You are leaving to come home just as your body has adjusted to West Coast time. It's understandable that it then doesn't have a clue what's going on when you return. 2 weeks just makes so much more sense - 13 days skiing.....
Tell me about it, girlfriend and I once did 10 days in BC then flew straight to Riga for a long weekend. We spent the entire time at each others' throats. Unfortunately she's a teacher so we can only really get away in Feb half term.But the jet lag is the killer. You are leaving to come home just as your body has adjusted to West Coast time. It's understandable that it then doesn't have a clue what's going on when you return. 2 weeks just makes so much more sense - 13 days skiing.....
looking for some advice/ help as I'd really like to start to learn to ski tour/ do a bit of back country/ off piste skiing and dont know where to start. Not sure if this is a topic for here, but PH seems to deliver on most stuff!
Are there any courses that are worth while? I've noticed Glenmore lodge do a few different courses, does anyone rate them? Are there any other courses/ days in scotland or am I best heading abroad on a week long course?
I like the idea of getting out into the hills, not necessarily the steep/ hard stuff, just getting away from it, earning my turns.
Obviously there is a lot to learn, i'm not expecting a one day course and I'm off into the back corries at nevis. I'm expecting a lot to take in:
- mountain navigation
- reading snow/ avalanche conditions
- touring kit (boots/ bindings/ skis)
- learning to skin/ turn on the way up
- avalanche kit and how to use them
At the moment, I have normal alpine skis (salomon Q90's with normal marker bindings) and normal alpine boots. Can you learn the basics of touring with this set up, or do I need to hire/ borrow touring boot/binding/ ski's?
Any help greatly appreciated!
Are there any courses that are worth while? I've noticed Glenmore lodge do a few different courses, does anyone rate them? Are there any other courses/ days in scotland or am I best heading abroad on a week long course?
I like the idea of getting out into the hills, not necessarily the steep/ hard stuff, just getting away from it, earning my turns.
Obviously there is a lot to learn, i'm not expecting a one day course and I'm off into the back corries at nevis. I'm expecting a lot to take in:
- mountain navigation
- reading snow/ avalanche conditions
- touring kit (boots/ bindings/ skis)
- learning to skin/ turn on the way up
- avalanche kit and how to use them
At the moment, I have normal alpine skis (salomon Q90's with normal marker bindings) and normal alpine boots. Can you learn the basics of touring with this set up, or do I need to hire/ borrow touring boot/binding/ ski's?
Any help greatly appreciated!
@malks222 I'd start out with getting a private lesson when you're away skiing and actually have some powder to get the basic technique as it is slightly different and will highlight any flaws in your basic technique that you can work on for free on your own.
Once you've done that look at booking a days off piste guiding, being clear you're a beginner and don't have your own off piste kit (transceiver/probe/shovel/are on alpine rather than touring bindings). That should see you start being shown how to use the kit then being taken to some of the more accessible back country.
From there you can decide if your body's up to multiple days/overnight trips (all that walking uphill, either with skins on your skis or skis on your back and snow shoes on your feet, plus the jump turns take a lot more energy than just sitting on a chair and rolling your knees to carve down a piste).
From there you can start to build your own off piste kit, group of back country friends and knowledge of reading the mountain by more trips and learning from your guides.
For all the above it's obviously better if you can get a few like-minded friends together, both to share the cost but also the fewer people in a group, the fewer to help look if anything happens and so the less adventurous the guide can be. I'm not saying the guide would be more reckless with a larger group, just they would be limited to things like zero avalance risk areas with just the two of you.
To start you should be OK with your Salomon's. They are a 90 under foot all mountain ski. You might want to hire a pair of pure backcountry skis if there's deep powder or you start getting in to it, dropping some piste performance for better off piste (basically more width to sink less and less weight to carry up the mountain).
Once you've done that look at booking a days off piste guiding, being clear you're a beginner and don't have your own off piste kit (transceiver/probe/shovel/are on alpine rather than touring bindings). That should see you start being shown how to use the kit then being taken to some of the more accessible back country.
From there you can decide if your body's up to multiple days/overnight trips (all that walking uphill, either with skins on your skis or skis on your back and snow shoes on your feet, plus the jump turns take a lot more energy than just sitting on a chair and rolling your knees to carve down a piste).
From there you can start to build your own off piste kit, group of back country friends and knowledge of reading the mountain by more trips and learning from your guides.
For all the above it's obviously better if you can get a few like-minded friends together, both to share the cost but also the fewer people in a group, the fewer to help look if anything happens and so the less adventurous the guide can be. I'm not saying the guide would be more reckless with a larger group, just they would be limited to things like zero avalance risk areas with just the two of you.
To start you should be OK with your Salomon's. They are a 90 under foot all mountain ski. You might want to hire a pair of pure backcountry skis if there's deep powder or you start getting in to it, dropping some piste performance for better off piste (basically more width to sink less and less weight to carry up the mountain).
malks222 said:
looking for some advice/ help as I'd really like to start to learn to ski tour/ do a bit of back country/ off piste skiing and dont know where to start. Not sure if this is a topic for here, but PH seems to deliver on most stuff!
Are there any courses that are worth while? I've noticed Glenmore lodge do a few different courses, does anyone rate them? Are there any other courses/ days in scotland or am I best heading abroad on a week long course?
I like the idea of getting out into the hills, not necessarily the steep/ hard stuff, just getting away from it, earning my turns.
Obviously there is a lot to learn, i'm not expecting a one day course and I'm off into the back corries at nevis. I'm expecting a lot to take in:
- mountain navigation
- reading snow/ avalanche conditions
- touring kit (boots/ bindings/ skis)
- learning to skin/ turn on the way up
- avalanche kit and how to use them
At the moment, I have normal alpine skis (salomon Q90's with normal marker bindings) and normal alpine boots. Can you learn the basics of touring with this set up, or do I need to hire/ borrow touring boot/binding/ ski's?
Any help greatly appreciated!
Right up my street this one!Are there any courses that are worth while? I've noticed Glenmore lodge do a few different courses, does anyone rate them? Are there any other courses/ days in scotland or am I best heading abroad on a week long course?
I like the idea of getting out into the hills, not necessarily the steep/ hard stuff, just getting away from it, earning my turns.
Obviously there is a lot to learn, i'm not expecting a one day course and I'm off into the back corries at nevis. I'm expecting a lot to take in:
- mountain navigation
- reading snow/ avalanche conditions
- touring kit (boots/ bindings/ skis)
- learning to skin/ turn on the way up
- avalanche kit and how to use them
At the moment, I have normal alpine skis (salomon Q90's with normal marker bindings) and normal alpine boots. Can you learn the basics of touring with this set up, or do I need to hire/ borrow touring boot/binding/ ski's?
Any help greatly appreciated!
Glenmore Lodge are local to me and I know several of their instructors. Yes, they offer good courses but I'd opt for one of their overseas intro ski touring courses rather than risk booking one based in the Cairngorms. We have no snow at the moment. Nadda. That might improve as the weeks elapse but it might not... There's a Glenmore Lodge one based in Galtur that looks great and ideal for those just getting in to ski touring.
Ski touring in Scotland is a very different game. The weather can be appalling, the snow rubbish and opportunities fleeting. You need to develop 'combat skiing' skills to cope with conditions, which might include occasional surfing down hill on rimed up heather. I kid you not! The Scottish mountains are a serious sub-arctic environment and at times can make big demands of your mountaineering skills/experience. Ski touring in the Alps is often (but not always) much more mellow/sunny/ fun.
Skinning is easy and you'll be good enough for most ski tour routes after a day or so, as long as you're reasonably physically competent/co-ordinated etc..
Gear. You can get inserts that fit into regular alpine bindings and give heel lift but I don't recommend these other than for a little 'side country' skiing nr resorts but not for extended tours. Proper ski touring gear is what you'll eventually need. You can also use a ski touring set up for resort skiing as well as the gear has come a long way in design/performance terms. Weight is a big deal when touring and the lighter your set up the better. Check out 'tech bindings' - they look alarming flimsy but work surprisingly well and you'll feel the benefit on an extended tour with a lot of skinning. Also check out 100% mohair skins. Much less tiring than hybrid 70/30% mix or 100% nylon - the latter are like dragging carpets around under you skis.
Ski touring is great and if the bug bites you'll never want to go resort skiing again.
Edited by Depthhoar on Wednesday 16th January 09:38
Edited by Depthhoar on Wednesday 16th January 09:39
thanks for all the info on the touring/ off-piste stuff.
I am very aware of the scottish conditions, as I ski up north fairly regularly. I gets that the conditions could be somewhat changeable (weather and snow conditions) I think this is what has me interested in it. I
think as a starter I might look at one of the glenmore lodge courses to see if I 'get' touring. It does look like to try and get the most out of it I'd need to invest in new boots/ bindings/ skins or at least hiring in the interim. where as up there I can get instruction and borrow the kit all in one before having to make the investment.
I also think reading more on all this, actually first off I want to improve on my off-piste. I've dabbled a little bit, but mainly side of piste/ nipping into the trees near runs etc..... I would say I'm a confident piste skier, but could do with taking lessons/ courses in off-piste. I think this year I might invest in a transceiver/ shovel/ probe and start avalanche awareness type stuff.
I'm not really interested in epic hut to hut multi day tours, i feel more wanting to be able to access better snow and getting off the beaten track. Happy to get lessons/ guides whilst away, but thats prob not going to happen now until next season.
I am very aware of the scottish conditions, as I ski up north fairly regularly. I gets that the conditions could be somewhat changeable (weather and snow conditions) I think this is what has me interested in it. I
think as a starter I might look at one of the glenmore lodge courses to see if I 'get' touring. It does look like to try and get the most out of it I'd need to invest in new boots/ bindings/ skins or at least hiring in the interim. where as up there I can get instruction and borrow the kit all in one before having to make the investment.
I also think reading more on all this, actually first off I want to improve on my off-piste. I've dabbled a little bit, but mainly side of piste/ nipping into the trees near runs etc..... I would say I'm a confident piste skier, but could do with taking lessons/ courses in off-piste. I think this year I might invest in a transceiver/ shovel/ probe and start avalanche awareness type stuff.
I'm not really interested in epic hut to hut multi day tours, i feel more wanting to be able to access better snow and getting off the beaten track. Happy to get lessons/ guides whilst away, but thats prob not going to happen now until next season.
malks222 said:
thanks for all the info on the touring/ off-piste stuff.
I think this year I might invest in a transceiver/ shovel/ probe and start avalanche awareness type stuff.
I'm not really interested in epic hut to hut multi day tours, i feel more wanting to be able to access better snow and getting off the beaten track. Happy to get lessons/ guides whilst away, but thats prob not going to happen now until next season.
Before going anywhere outside a resort, buy the beeper/shovel/probe and invest in a 2 day avalanche training course somewhere with real snow. Having the gear is no use if either a) you're under the snow, or b) you're the one on top but don't know how to search and dig effectively. There is an 8 minute window to find and extract someone under the snow once they disappear, beyond which they run out of air. If they're 1 metre down, you have to find exactly where they are in a slide which could be 500 metres long, and then shift a metric ton of snow. If they're 2 metres down, 4 tons. If it's a multiple burial, the ones on top need to remember how many were in the group, count the survivors, assess how many are buried, where on the slope they were, and sort themselves out to start searching in different teams. There are lots of little things to remember to increase their chances, and only regular practise will drill that into your head. I think this year I might invest in a transceiver/ shovel/ probe and start avalanche awareness type stuff.
I'm not really interested in epic hut to hut multi day tours, i feel more wanting to be able to access better snow and getting off the beaten track. Happy to get lessons/ guides whilst away, but thats prob not going to happen now until next season.
This is serious stuff. Find a group you like and tag along with them for a few trips, to learn the ropes. While there can be the occasional great offpiste run, much of the time is spent minimising risk rather than searching for the best lines.
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